The Ombudsman warned that there are services that illegitimately deny immigrants’ requests for assistance, alleging that their documents are expired. However, they are still valid by law.
The Ombudsman warned this Thursday that there are public services that illegitimately reject requests for assistance from immigrants, alleging expired documents, but which by law remain valid, and asked to reinforce the information in this regard.
“The Ombudsman’s Office expresses concern about the lack of protection of migrants with titles that have expiredand requests to reinforce the dissemination of information in this regard between Public Administration services and foreign citizens in Portugal,” reads a statement from the Ombudsman released this Thursday.
According to the information, these are migrants with origins outside the European Union and applicants for international protection, who currently have residence or stay documents with an expired validity date, but who a 2020 decree remains “entirely valid for all legal purposes” until June 30, 2025.
“Even after this date, documents will be considered valid if their holders present proof of renewal scheduling,” explains the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman highlights the need for public services “to be duly informed and correctly apply” the law to guarantee the regular stay of foreign citizens in the national territory.
“The complaints and information received at the Ombudsman’s Office suggest, however, the existence in public services of cases of refusal to analyze requests based on the expiration of expired documents, despite the fact that the law allows their use. In addition to generating unjustified difficulties for the people covered by the legal extension, the failures detected in the information chain translate, in practice, into an unacceptable differentiation of treatment, depending on the greater or lesser knowledge of the law at the time of the provision of the service”, criticized the Supplier.
The document also adds that “Unnecessary doubts also cause an influx of foreign citizens in AIMA stores [Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo] request information about the legal extension, which can be avoided and causes entropy in a service that is already under a lot of pressure.”
The Ombudsman reiterates the “urgent need to improve the dissemination of information on the extension of the validity of documents belonging to foreign citizens in Portugal”, ensuring that “immigrants can exercise their rights without obstacles”.
To this end, it suggests that the management of the services “develop guidelines to guarantee adequate dissemination of information between the services and their workers, specifically through the display of materials made available by the AIMA in places where citizens are served.” .
Source: Observadora
